Some of the best Noquemanon conditions in many years greeted participants Saturday in Marquette. The Factory Team's Andre Golovko edged out Zach Violett (Fischer/Craft) for the 51K classical victory, as Andre's teammate, Kristina Strandberg won the women's division. Nikolai Anikin pulled away from Matt Weier to take the mens 51K title. Paulette Niemi was crowned the 51K freestyle queen. Freestyle 25K titles went to Duncan McClean and Mindy McCutcheon, classical 25K victories for John Anderton and Tami Kochen.
Golovko was able to pull away from Violett and win by 4 seconds. Adam Swank (Fischer/Craft) was third, eight minutes behind the top two.
Strandberg skied away with the victory in the women's classical event, outpacing Martina Stursova (Rossignol) by six minutes. Diane Tremblay was third, another five minutes in back of Stursova.
269 skiers completed the 51km classic event.
Anikin put nearly two and a half minutes on Weir, winning the skate event in 2:17:46.
Jamie Glommen Misner crossed the line five minutes behind Niemi, good for second in the women's freestyle.
384 skiers completed the 51km skate event.
Photos of the race by Dennis Loy can be found here.
